How busy is DL on the weekends?

[pixleyyy]

We are visiting Feb. 26-Mar. 5. We arrive on Sunday around noon and depart DLR at 3pm the following Sunday. I am trying to plan where to go on which days according to what will be the best w/crowds and such. We have a 5-day parkhopper ticket as well as one day at Sea World and up to 2 days at Universal Studios. We have scheduled a character dinner for our first night there and have PS set at 5:30pm.

My big question is, how busy is DL on the weekends? Does anyone have any insight on setting up a good schedule for where to go each day? Is it best to skip any of them on weekends? I'd appreciate any help from those seasoned visitors. Thanks.

 

[iceskatejen]

DL gets pretty busy from Friday afternoons-Sunday evenings. Lines can get long for the most popular rides. But this time of year, weekends are also the only times you can see the fireworks and Fantasmic, both of which are must-sees in my book.

I'd make sure at least on of the Universal days is a weekday. The backlot tour is much more interesting when there is actually filming going on (which there generally isn't on weekends).

 

[pixleyyy]

Hmmmm ... maybe we'll head in on the first day just for a few quick rides then come back after the character dinner for fantasmic and fireworks.

 

[grumpy's fan]

Just back from DLR last weekend. Very busy on the weekend days. We did Ariels Grotto and fireworks Friday night to avoid all the crowds. Sat and Sun both were very crowded but were able to EE on Saturday morning and was able to ride everything open in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland so that was great. Ended up leaving DL about noon on Saturday as lines just too long for our 4 year old to wait in. Saturday night lines okay but still long. We had a much nicer day on Monday when the crowds were minimal.

Have a great time!

 

[pixleyyy]

Oh, that's good to know. Thanks for your input.

 

[Luvmy2Js]

We will be there at the same time as you and I have also been wondering about the crowds. Right now we are planning on doing Sea World on Wednesday. I agree with the other poster that said to try and do Universal Studios during a weekday. I am hoping the crowd on Sunday won't be awful but with this fabulous weather we are having in California right now I am sure it will be pretty packed. Have a great time!

 

[ceejay13]

We are at DL right now. We arrived Friday for an 8 night stay. We always avoid the parks on Saturday but thought we'd try today. We made an 1130 PS for Blue Bayou and decided to drive to the park. (We are staying at the Embassy Suites.) It took us 10" to get to the garage and 30" to get from the garage to the Blue Bayou. It was packed, a line to get on the escalator down to the tram, lines for the tram, long lines to get through security and another long line to get into the park. After lunch we tried DCA as it usually is not as busy. It was an hour wait just for the new Monsters Inc. ride so we opted to come back to our room and rest. We will go back tonight for fireworks. I did ask a CM what the slowest days next week would be and she predicted Monday and Tuesday. I would recommend staying away from the weekends if you can.

 

[iceskatejen]

Sundays aren't usually that bad (a friend of mine is in the park right now and he told me how bad the parking structure was), but this is a holiday weekend and that changes things.

 

[pixleyyy]

Sundays aren't usually that bad (a friend of mine is in the park right now and he told me how bad the parking structure was), but this is a holiday weekend and that changes things.

That's good to know! Our first day will be Sunday and I didn't want the kids to be disappointed with the crowds too badly on their first day.

 

[Syn&Bri'sDaddy]

Be sure to save us a spot in line, as we'll be there during that week as well!!

I'll be the guy overdosing on estrogen, as I'll be traveling with my three daughters, wife, and mother-in-law. lol

We'll be doing the SoCal Citypass, which includes a 3day Hopper, Knott's Berry Farm or Universal Studios (ten days to go, and we still haven't decided that one yet lol), Seaworld, and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We'll be driving in from Phoenix, so that's how we'll manage to get where we need to be.

If you happen to get to Seaworld on the same day as us, my 10yo will be the soggy one as we try to re-create our last trip to SW San Antonio where she got soaked by one of Shamu's splashes (this time with video rolling).

Have a good trip!!